Consistency is the name of the game for the Ashland University Men and Women’s Cross Country teams for the 2022 season.

With over half of the team on both men’s and women’s sides being freshmen having to adjust from high school cross country to the college level, Head Coach Jacob Sussman is extremely happy with his team’s performances.

“Overall we’re finishing well over the top half of teams we are competing with. This is exciting because last year we were kind of on the midline of everybody, so definite improvement. We’re being consistent.”

Leading the eagles on the men’s side are sophomore Colton Pinkerton, who had a PR of 25:28.7  (31st), and junior Konnor Ray running at a 26:31.1 (71st) pace in the latest invitational, Lock Haven.

Sussman gives major credit to those returning runners for holding down the fort and being leaders to the younger guys who have joined the team. 

“They’ve been very encouraging to each other, which has helped push them beyond what I even thought their limits were for this year,” said Sussman.

This team is one of the biggest in four years and has a special dynamic that goes beyond the course. Fifth-year Cassandra Ponzi said, “this year we have a very young team. Despite the young fresh faces, we’ve still been able to compete for each meet and everyone has been so supportive of each other.” 

On the women’s side of things, Emma Hinkle and Mckenna WoodRuff are leaders on and off the course for their team. 

For Mckenna Woodroof, this is her first season running for the cross country team, as she was recruited off of the track team to run distance. 

“It has definitely been a learning process and like anything in life there are good days and bad days but the people around me have helped me get through the hard days and the good days help remind me of my love for this sport,” said Woodroof.

This past weekend the teams traveled to Illinois to compete in the Lewis Crossover meet. 

On the men’s side, Sophomore Colton Pinkerton led the AU men by crossing the finish line in 25:41.28 while Senior Nick Ponzi had a PR of  25:51.82.

The woman followed suit with junior McKenna Woodruff finishing with a time of 24:58.23 followed by senior Emma Hinkle at 25:01.91.

The teams will travel to Wilmington, Ohio on Oct. 14 to compete in their last regular season race, the JennaStrong Fall Classic.